As if freshmen didn’t have enough to worry about their first year at college, but here’s the bad news: you are likely to gain on average 15 pounds during your freshman year.
Call it the Freshman 15, or as they do in New Zealand, the First Year Fatties, it’s still much to be dreaded and avoided.
As you might surmise, not everyone gains 15 pounds. Some gain more – or less – or none at all. But it’s a common enough experience for freshmen through the decades that you should be aware of it.
Change of Habit
The major reason for the freshman weight gain is that you’ll have changed your eating habits. Without parents to regulate what, when and how much you eat, you may start making some bad choices that include scarfing down fast food, chips, sodas, pizza and sweets – often in the wee hours of the morning. This is a recipe for fast weight gain.
Late night grazing is another major contributor to weight gain. Eating while you’re studying (late at night, more than likely) may promote the munchies, but so could late night partying with the roomies in your Ohio University student rentals. Just so you know: food consumed late at night is not likely to be burned off, despite your youthful metabolism. It’s probably going to be stored as fat around your mid-section.
The stresses you’re enduring under pressure of deadlines, adjusting to being away from home and perhaps relationship issues may also aid in the production of cortisol, which contributes to weight gain. You may also be likely to binge eat when you’re undergoing emotional upheaval. Of course, drinking can also add pounds, as can failure to get enough exercise – not uncommon when you’re slammed with the need to study and complete assignments.
A word of warning: you’re entering adulthood, your metabolism is changing and it will never be as easy to keep weight off as it was when you were growing, so get control of your eating and exercise habits now, so you can develop lifelong habits that will keep your weight under control.